Jaybee Just Misses Yet Another Great Time

1967 is generally considered the high water mark in rock n roll. (Yeah, I know I already did a post on it. Just bear with me please?.) It was an apex of experimentation and songwriting. Apparently it’s been all downhill since then, even though I had a perfectly good time afterward.  

I was only ten years old in 1967, so my enjoyment came via singles, Sgt Pepper and maybe Monkee’s Headquarters. Albums, along with many of the year’s more...exotic pleasures were beyond me, so I can’t help but think I missed all the real fun. This “just missed the real fun” would become a theme in my life. Upon entering a new job, grade, decade or even room, I was always being told what a great time everyone had last time, and that it just isn’t the same now.

I’ve done a lot of catching up since then, but Pink Floyd somehow got left behind. Probably because we had the 1970s era Floyd to distract us. They hit my radar on early FM radio and weird TV music specials. Since this was before my serious record buying days, they would always seem way too daunting to take on. Plus, I was afraid that if mom or dad heard them, they would (correctly) conclude that pot was the inevitable next step. I’d’ve gotten in trouble for it without even having gotten to smoke any.

But in 1973 they broke big, with Dark Side blah blah blah, so you and I and even your mom got to know them. And for the rest of the decade they were actually pretty hard to ignore. So I cared less and less. I found The Wall to be kind of annoying, actually. Not as much as John Lydon, who would wear a Floyd t-shirt with the words “I Hate...” painted on it.

They can now be heard as mainstays on classic rock stations. Where the contents of maybe three albums are still in pretty heavy rotation.

All this kept me away for some time. It was only after having gotten - and loved - the Zombie’s Odyssey and Oracle and the Small Faces Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake - did I venture to dig deeper into flower power era English rock again. So why not check out a record that is now remembered as one of Floyd's best, one featuring the Crazy Diamond Syd Barrett himself?

Pink Floyd  Piper at the Gates of Dawn

As is always the case with records of that era, I was less than impressed the first time around, mostly because of all the drug induced whimsy. However, I eventually noticed that Syd was not bad when it came to writing actual tunes, even when the lyrics were a bit off off the rails. I also noticed that the ten minute “Interstellar Overdrive” isn’t content to be merely spacey like so many excursions of that era. There is some pretty aggressive guitar playing on it, too.

And when it comes to the songs, Old Syd turns out to be a bit more down to earth (believe it or not) than the other guys anyway.  Otherwise, why are the songs so catchy?

Oh, it’s all kind of hazy like Tame Impala was/is. Plus it’s got a thin crust of 60s-psychedelic cliches on it. But it’s so light and fluffy!

As usual, it took awhile for it to finally hit me. (Mrs. Jaybee was humming it way before me.) And I’m not totally sure I’ll be humming it all six months from now, so I’m going to hold off an unqualified endorsement for now. B+

But between you and me, if anyone brings up Pink Floyd to me again, citing Dark Side or anything after, I’m just going to have to tell them that Piper was their peak, and after Syd left, they were just never the same again.

My 2012: The Second Annual Jaybee-bies

And what a mediocre year it’s been!  - Jaybee
No, that’s not really true.  I wrote that in November, just before everything came together.

That’s what I get for getting sucked into that very common, but very bad, habit of reviewing something - like a year - way too soon.

And, it has the paradoxical effect of stretching things out into the new year. My unofficial resolution to get this done much sooner than last time has fallen in the crapper. It’s almost February for God’s sake. I’ve already gotten new music. Time to get my ass in gear and put 2012 to bed.

How did I do on those other resolutions anyway?


2012 Resolutions:

1. Getting More Current Music: On this, I totally sucked, managing to get only one measly 2012 album (Fiona Apple) and that one only on December 31. Nutboy is laughing his ass off right now. On the one hand, it was due to there being so many possible candidates, none of whom I trusted enough to follow through on. There were dozens of records that somebody was enthusiastic about. I just couldn’t distinguish the momentary enthusiasms from the keepers. Every time a promising record appeared, there was old Christgau
snickering at it, or not liking it quite enough. I had to wait for the year end polls to enlighten me.  While I waited for it all to get sorted out, I got distracted by records that just happened to come out, oh, forty years ago.

My middle name is After the Fact. C

But the other thing was that most of the highest rated records fell into the soul and hip hop (Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Killer Mike, etc) genres - ones that I’m not too good with. Or not as good as I should be. So rather than waste a lot of time trying to make myself a better, more rounded person, I’m opting for happiness.

I feel bad that I’m shying away from these genres. I guess it’s selfish, and short sighted, but when I look ahead I’m not seeing all that much time. I can’t afford to experiment like I did when I was in my twenties, assuming what I didn’t like today, I might like years from now.  I don’t know how many of those I have. This wasn’t even a resolution but I’m giving myself a C on it anyway.

2. More Downloads, Fewer CDs: I did pretty good. By my rough count I ended up with 19 CDs and 16 MP3s. So it’s evening out. Still too many CDs, though.  B+

3. More Current Books: Well, I started off pretty good and read a handful of books from this century (Zazen (very powerful), The Hunger Games (brilliant) and Ready Player One (great fun) but then trailed off, and by the end of the year, I hadn’t read all that many from last century, either. C+


So the 2013 Resolutions are:

1. No CDs: Mrs. Jaybee is REALLY doubtful about it.  As long as I can stay away from downtown, where J&R and Other Music are located, I’ve got a shot.

2. At least 3 albums released in 2013: Nutboy’s probably managed more than 3 already.

3. Get Less Music: I did get more MP3s, but I didn’t get fewer CDs. I got way too much music, and need to focus. (I have to, before I toss out a family member.)  But Amazon is doing their yearly 50 million albums for $5, and I’ve already gotten three. None from this year, by the way.

4. More music books!  I had great fun doing this in 2012, and realized I’d been remiss for many years. I don’t know why. Probably some combination of the books not being available at my library and me being too cheap to buy them. I also have a fear of reading about music at the expense of listening to it, as well as a dread of the potential Deadening of Joy Via Theory Effect, which happens to me when the writer is thinking it, but JUST NOT FEELIN' IT.


So How Good a Year Was It?

Things were so good that I’m not going to just mention one or two Best Albums of the Year with a handful of runners up.  I’m actually going to supply a top 10 list, which goes something like this:
1. Ogden’s Nut Flake by the Small Faces (1968)  
2. Sea Change by Beck (2002)
3. On by Imperial Teen (2002)
4. The Wild Hunt by the Tallest Man on Earth (2010)
5. The Mysterious Production of Eggs by Andrew Bird (2005)
6. Give Up by Postal Service  (2003)
7. Music for Airports by Brian Eno (1978)
8. So Beautiful or So What by Paul Simon (2011)
9. Whitechocolatespaceegg by Liz Phair (1998)
10. Spinning Around the Sun by Jimmie Dale Gilmore (1993)


Biggest Disappointment:
Wild Flag - Just not feelin it.

Strangest:
Jens Lekman - Expecting pop, got a big lump of cheesey weirdness, which I didn’t think was possible.

Biggest Stretch (for me):
Wu Tang Clan - Strong music, stronger subject matter.

Artist of the Year:
The Small Faces - For blowing away my assumption that they were just another 60s band.


Onward:

So that’s it. I’m finally done with a very rewarding year and hoping I can keep it going without wasting a lot of time and money on misfires.

Well, are you going to help me out with that or what?

My 2012: Cloud 2, or Return of the Downloads

Summertime, and the Downloadin's Easy:

So I keep going back and forth on my preferred method of music acquisition. A trip to the record store give me an opportunity to browse, and I get to hold something in my hand, which is important to us guys.

But the trouble is that the only thing downloading requires is for me to be sitting on my ass (I'm an expert) at a computer, while going to the record store involves, well, going to the record store.  

Thankfully the download gods became more forgiving as the year went on.

I’m still not sure these albums really are. And what better start with than an album of music that’s barely there? 


Eno Music for Airports:
It’s been about 30 years - and a zillion records he’s sold for other artists - since  I’ve gotten an Eno record. This one is from his prime and I wasn’t disappointed.  Without going into a whole lot of detail that will mean absolutely nothing to you, I’ll just say that it’s the ambient music you’d expect. Just done better than anyone else, and with the beauty more out front than on Another Green World.  A-
Here's the whole thing.



Bob Marley: Legend:More music for specific occasions, like a hot day by the pool (do you actually have a pool? Why don't you invite us over?). Funny but this doesn’t sound that much better than Natty Dread, which leads me to suspect that I’d really love some other stand alone albums. (I wonder if I could say the same about Blur?)  But as it is, this one flows by flawlessly. A-
Dig the audience participation on "No Woman No Cry".



Postal Service: Give UpA mere side project for Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, and another guy. Said other guy sends BG some tracks that are kind of electronica in nature, and BG adds the voice, melody and guitar. And it all adds up to a very pleasant record. Which finally makes me interested in DCFC. A-
"We are Silhouettes"


Best of the Monkees:At $2.99, another bargain. But the sound is crappy,and my version would have been a little different. I miss the liner notes, too.  B+
"Sometime in the Morning"



The Small Faces: Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake:
Who’da thunk an obscure sixties album with bonus material would be so great? I’ll admit that the first spin was almost painful, with the limited sound quality, quaint narration in spots and some music that’s aged just slightly (hmm, just like me!).  But the tunes emerge, the band proceeds to rock, and we catch Steve Marriott at just the right amount - a wee bit before all that swagger in Humble Pie.  Wonderful. A
"Afterglow"



Imperial Teen: On
I always root for a band with women in it. Here the boy/girl breakdown is 2/2, with the gals handling the bass and drums, quite well, thank you very much. This one hits you softly, but immediately. The spare but decisive instrumentation, the quiet yet expressive vocals and the words that are still waiting to get into my brain. It’s the great tunes that keep getting in the way.  A-
"Million Dollar Man"



Stone Roses:
I’m liking this more as time goes on, but I must admit that at first it sounded like phony poseur pop music that could only come out of England. Everything was just too perfect - the jangely guitars, the echo - and the vocals far enough back to suggest that they had nothing to say. Now that I’ve given it time, the sound is sticking better than fake stuff normally does.  B+
"Waterfall"


A Pre-Thanksgiving Strike That Didn’t Quite Work Out:

Right around early November, I begin to play for my holiday music link, and reach out, hoping for gentle pop/ songwriting/textures/emotion, hoping for nothing too harsh.

But the critical thing is that it’s got to kick in right away, or at least before Thanksgiving Day.



Los Campesinos!: Hold On Now, Youngster...
What I get instead is frantic, but very fun pop (even if it doesn’t fit the holiday mood at all) music. But hey, it’s not their fault I didn’t buy it in the summer, when I can better handle the overflow of words, instruments, beats and hooks. B+
"You! Me! Dancing!"

Andrew Bird: The Mysterious Production of Eggs
So I was hoping that Andrew Bird might save the day. Well, he kind of did, eventually, which really isn’t saving the day at all when you really think about it. Now that it's mid-December, and he’s having the calm, soothing effect I was hoping for. I just needed it a month ago. B+
"Tables and Chairs"


Overall, not bad, huh?  A lot of really good records, with an ever so slight misfire at the end, which has a lot more to do with my needs and expectations than the quality of the music.

One might think that downloading would be the way to go from this point on.

Uh, well...